Marmite Creates a 'Gene Test' to Prove If You're Born Loving or Hating It

Unilever Brand Commissoned Scientific Research From a Genetic Testing Company

By Alexandra Jardine.Published on Sep 07, 2017

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Unilever-owned Marmite has long marketed itself on the idea that "you either love it or hate it." In its latest campaign, it's gone one step further and commissioned scientific research to prove that whether or not you like the yeast-based spread is in your genes.

The campaign is PR-led, by agency W Communications, and centers around new research that Marmite commissioned from one of the U.K.'s leading genetic testing centers, DNAFit. Scientists there conducted a clinical trial among 260 adults, and found out that not only do more people love it than hate it (which is handy for the brand) but that "each of us is born with a tendency to be either a 'lover' or a 'hater.'"

The brand is making available "gene testing kits," which you can buy online for the rather pricey sum of about 90 pounds ($117 at current exchange rates) and is being promoted in a TV spot by Marmite creative agency Adam&Eve/DDB. (Adam& Eve also developed the online explainer spot, seen here.)

Meanwhile digital agency AnalogFolk has also developed a mobile app, called TasteFace, available from next Monday, that uses facial recognition technology to tell you whether or not you love or hate Marmite (which presumably you'll know anyway, as soon as it hits your mouth, but it's a fun idea).